Prince-bishops of Speyer

Prince-Bishopric of Speyer
Fürstbistum Speyer
Prince-Bishopric
888–1803
Coat of arms
The Prince-Bishopric of Speyer circa 1700
Capital		Speyer (to 1379) Udenheim2 (1379–1723) Bruchsal (from 1723)
Languages		Rhine Franconian, South Franconian
Government		Prince-Bishopric
Historical era		Middle Ages
•	Established	3rd or 4th century
•	Gained territory	888
•	Speyer became     Imperial Free City	1294
•	Lost territory to France	1681–97
•	Partitioned and     secularised to     France and Baden	1801–03 1803
Preceded by Succeeded by Duchy of Franconia Mont-Tonnerre Margraviate of Baden

The Bishopric of Speyer, or Prince-Bishopric of Speyer (formerly known as Spires in English), was an ecclesiastical principality in what are today the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg. It was secularized in 1803. The prince-bishop resided in Speyer, a Free Imperial City, until the 14th century when he moved his residence to Uddenheim (Philippsburg), then in 1723 to Bruchsal, in large part due to the tense relationship between successive prince-bishops and the civic authorities of the Free City, officially Protestant since the Reformation. The prince-provostry of Wissemburg in Alsace was ruled by the prince-bishop of Speyer in a personal union.

The bishopric of Speyer belonged to the Upper Rhenish Circle of the Holy Roman Empire. One of the smallest principalities of the Holy Roman Empire, it consisted of more than half a dozen separate enclaves totalling about 28 German square miles (about 1540 km²) on both sides of the Rhine. It included the towns of Bruchsal (on the right bank) as well as Deidesheim, Herxheim bei Landau, and Lauterburg (on the left bank). Around 1800 the bishopric included about 55,000 people.

A diocese of Speyer has possibly existed since the 3rd or 4th century. It was first mentioned in historical documents in 614. Up to 748 it was a suffragant bishopric of the archdiocese of Trier, and from then until the secularisation of the prince-bishopric in 1803, of the archdiocese of Mainz.

The history of the Bishopric of Speyer began at the latest in the late 7th century when the bishop of Speyer received royal domains in the neighboring Speyergau. In the 10th and 11th centuries, the diocese received additional lands, including gifts by emperor Otto I. In 1030 the building of the cathedral was begun. In 1061 the cathedral was consecrated. In 1086 emperor Henry IV granted the bishopric the remaining parts of the county of Speyergau.